


open your eyes (i’ll look away).

by tousled



Series: who you are meant to be [2]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Vision impaired Astrid, blindstrid cinematic universe, other characters mentioned briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 08:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21176477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tousled/pseuds/tousled
Summary: “We only found some fireflies,” Tuff says, genuine. He sits down next to Astrid, immediately curling into her shoulder. “They’re really pretty. Maybe later we could go have a look and see if they’re bright enough for you to be able to pick the colour and movement up!”





	open your eyes (i’ll look away).

**Author's Note:**

> For HTTYD Rare Pair Week 2019!!!! Prompt: Trust // “Do it, I dare you.” 
> 
> 👀👀👀👀👀 y’all didn’t think i forgot about the blindstrid cinematic universe did ya? (Actually I have another BIG fic in the works for this it’s just taking forever...) 
> 
> I feel like I’m a little rusty on this universe. Mind the voice. 
> 
> Also rmr how in httyd3 Hiccup said he hadn’t pegged Astrid a romantic what a fucking self burn like fjejdnjdjrodmdkkd dude do u know ANYTHING about your long term girlfriend or does Tuff have to explain it all. Really, the people want to know.

It’s the time of day when Astrid’s sight is starting to get foggy at the edges, sun low in the sky and shadows growing longer. If they were travelling west perhaps she would have pushed it, but with the sun behind her the dark creeps into her vision in leaps and bounds. She said they’d be back to The Edge today but it’s probably just not possible. 

“Unless someone else wants to lead, I probably need to stop for the night.” Astrid calls out. The immediate _ oh thank Thor! _ settles comfortably in the silence. The idea of inconveniencing anyone else makes her stomach turn, she is thankful others want to stop. 

“Let’s camp on the island coming up,” Heather calls, and Astrid doesn’t glance over but she’s probably pointing. “I know _ I’m _exhausted.” 

“I bags not fishing!” Tuff adds, laughing when Snotlout groans. “I’ll send a terror mail! Snotlout can do it!” 

“Aw man.” Snotlout says, but doesn’t argue any further. In reality, it’s not a hard job with a Monstrous Nightmare. He splits off, the flap of Hookfang’s wings obvious as he drops down to the ocean. 

“You snooze, you loose Snotman.” Ruff laughs, and Astrid could imagine the rude gesture she’s probably making with her hands. 

Astrid helps scout the area, Stormfly happily sniffing around alongside Barf and Belch. Heather ends up sending the terror mail back to The Edge, partly afraid of what the twins would send. Once finished she helps with working out the camp site and then gathering rocks to make a fire pit. Barf and Belch take off into the bushes and the twins follow, yelling about a giant rabbit. 

“I’m glad we stopped off.” Heather says, putting the rocks down by Astrid’s foot for her to move them into place. “Today was a long day, we all deserve another day off. It’s been fun.” 

“I’m sure Fishlegs, Dagur and Hiccup are having the time of their life too.” Astrid smiles, the sun almost gone enough that all she can see of Heather is dark shadows. “My eyes were tired too.” 

“I’m sure they are.” Heather laughs, and the image of the chaos that Dagur would bring to the already chaotic time Hiccup and Fishlegs create is amusing. He’s only really just joined them, and Fishlegs is still a little nervous. He hadn’t wanted Astrid to leave, but she couldn’t stand the thought of having to spend the time with just them right now. Even with her slowly bettering partial blindness she’s more use on a scouting mission. 

Snotlout brings fish in soon after they’ve set up the fire, bundles of kindling and a couple of larger logs ready to go. He strings up a cooking station, and Astrid settles down fireside to watch the flickering of the flames. The twins come bounding back when the fish has almost finished cooking, Barf and Belch making enough noise a deaf thunderdrum could hear them, and laughing. 

“You better not have disturbed some kind of angry animal.” Heather warns, only half serious. The first island it was a grisly ancient boar that had squealed all night, keeping them up. 

“Or any more bees.” Snotlout adds, “that was the worst. One stung me on the butt.” 

“On the butt!” Ruff sniggers, devolving into laughter. She’s laughed every time it’s been brought up, and admittedly, it was very funny to begin with but Snotlout’s carrying on soon got old. 

“We only found some fireflies,” Tuff says, genuine. He sits down next to Astrid, immediately curling into her shoulder. “They’re really pretty. Maybe later we could go have a look and see if they’re bright enough for you to be able to pick the colour and movement up!” 

“Gross.” Snotlout calls out, handing the first cooked fish to Heather. 

“Sounds good Tuff,” Astrid smiles, accepting her own fish and sharing half with Tuff when he tugs in her sleeve. Eventually Stormfly and Barf and Belch snuggle close in too, begging for scraps and Tuff tucks himself right under Astrid’s chin. She curls her spare hand around him, stroking along the bare skin of his arm, goosebumps under her fingertips. 

Other than Snotlout’s one joking comment, no one says anything rude. There’s no assigning jobs, no making Tuff walk about the other side of the fire to do something and Astrid would fake another night out if it meant she got to spend more time pressed close to Tuff without comment. The fire is stoked and taking the chill out of the air, and they’ve had a good meal and are surrounded by the quiet murmur of a long day and Astrid’s never felt so content. 

“Should we go find these fireflies?” Astrid asks, rousing Tuff’s slumped form. She’s not sure if he’s already fallen asleep or will shortly. He jolts, blinding owlishly and looking up at her.

“Oh yes, absolutely.” Tuff jumps up, dusting himself off and then holding out a hand for Astrid to grip his arm and pull herself up. 

“If we hear screams, we’ll send the dragons.” Ruff calls out, her tone bright and cheeky and Heather snorts into her hand. 

“They’re probably just gonna make out, ugh.” Snotlout adds, missing Ruff’s teasing. 

“Yeah, yeah see you tomorrow morning.” Astrid jokes, but Tuff makes a little noise. Astrid turns her head, the side of his face in shadow against the fire light and she wants to ask, but then nearly trips over a log. 

Away from the warmth of the fire the moon is bright enough Astrid can see the shape of the forest, dark shadows of trees and bright patches of sky. It’s infinitely easier than if it had been a dark night, although the detail of the undergrowth is missing and she’s stepped on a couple of stones. 

“How far away are the fireflies?” Astrid asks, glad for his arm and the moon. Tuff shrugs. 

“I don’t remember, but we’ll know when we see them.” He supposes, catching Astrid’s arm to direct her around a big shrub. 

“If,” Astrid says and it feels so strange to say it and not immediately feel awful, feel angry. They brought back lots of water from Eir’s well, and her sight is slowly improving but something about it settled the knowledge inside her. 

They crunch through the undergrowth for another five minutes or so, voices a soft murmur. It’s _ fun _, Tuff has a million anecdotes that may or may not be true and Astrid feels like she knows him enough she can guess which ones are. After she says it, it becomes a game, Tuff exaggerating silly stories. After one so ridiculous it couldn’t be anything but true Tuff goes silent for several long moments. 

“Do you trust me?” Tuff asks, tone light and he sounds like a little kid asking for love, for belief. 

“I’d close my eyes if it made any difference.” Astrid replies and Tuff stops dead, tripping over his own feet and Astrid follows suit, nearly falling over him too. 

“Ow, sorry.” He says, looping his arm closer around her elbow and into her side. Astrid reaches out and accidentally pokes him in the shoulder, but once she’s found his collarbone she knows exactly where she is. 

“What’s the stopping for? Are we here?” Astrid asks. She can’t see anything, just faint silhouettes of the trees in the moonlight. 

“Oh, no.” Tuff replies and Astrid wishes she could see the bashful blush she _ knows _would be peppering his cheeks right now. “I just, your blind faith - literal blind faith - is overwhelming, you know?” 

“No.” Astrid says. “I don’t. Hiccup expected that of me - of all of us.” 

“Oh,” Tuff says, shivering all the way down to his toes. Astrid lets her hand drift up to curl around his neck. 

“Do you trust me?” She asks. Tuff shivers again, curling into Astrid’s arms and letting their foreheads press together. 

“With my life,” Tuff breathes, Astrid slides her hand up to cup his jaw. 

He sinks into the kiss, sagging in Astrid’s arms and curling his own tight around her. She holds him up easily, spare arm around his waist, tilting his head. He whines open mouthed into it, fingers scrabbling on Astrid’s back and she takes control. They kiss until they’re dizzy with it, until Tuff pulls away panting against Astrid’s neck, squirming a little. 

“Well, Snotlout was right.” Tuff says, pulling away, probably with a smile. 

“Find these fireflies and he’ll be more than right.” Astrid promises, and even though they’re not plastered together anymore she can see feel him shiver. 

“Right, fireflies.” Tuff says, determined. 

It turns out, they weren’t that far away. The trees start thin out after another minute, brighter moon light filtering through. The first bright green light goes zipping past and Astrid stops, wowed. Tuff tugs in her arm, encouraging, and the last few paces to the clearing are over in a second. 

“Oh my _ Freya,” _Astrid gasps, staring out with wild eyes. The clearing is all moonlight and tiny shadows and flickers of green darting 

“Fireflies, as promised.” Tuff takes a bow, letting go of Astrid, a show of faith that would make her pause a moment if she wasn’t so blown away by getting to see _ fireflies _. 

They flit around, streaks of green and yellow, and with the bright moon and piles of stars it looks like something out of a tale Gobber would tell around a fireplace about a god. It’s so beautiful Astrid doesn’t know what to do with the emotions bubbling up in her chest. She takes several well placed steps, careful with where she’s placing her feet until she’s in the middle of the clearing. 

“They’re so,” Astrid says, turning to what Tuff is, watching with wide eyes too. She doesn’t know how to end that sentence, _beautiful_, _amazing,_ _beyond belief. _

“Yeah,” Tuff agrees and Astrid laughs. _ Yeah _, she thinks and then walks the few steps over to him to throw her arms around him. 

He either hasn’t got a good foothold, or Astrid’s motion isn’t obvious in the dark and he trips. They go sprawling, tumbling into the grass, laughing in the night surrounded by stars and fireflies. Astrid kisses him again, laughter still in her throat and smile curling up her mouth. Tuff’s smiling too, and their kisses devolve into just smiling at one another. 

“You okay?” Astrid asks, touching his brow. Tuff’s hands come up to her sides, comfortable there like they weren’t before and she brushes his hair out of his face. 

“Fantastic, wonderful.” He says, he grins, he draws Astrid back to kiss until they’ve lost their breaths. Astrid gets up, pressure off Tuff’s chest, and then flops back down onto the ground next to him. 

She looks up at the tiny pin pricks of stars she can just see, the cool light of the moon and the dancing of the fireflies. Tuff worms his way closer, tucking his arm underneath her head and rests his on her shoulder. They shuffle for several moments, getting comfortable and Astrid rests one leg up, knee bent. It’s barely up for a minute when there’s a tiny thump and Astrid bolts up, accidentally dislodging Tuff. 

A firefly has landed on her knee, and Astrid holds her breath, hopes it doesn’t move away. This close, with the glow competing with the moon light it’s hard to make out. It looks odd, too big and not really beetle shaped and - 

“Tuff,” Astrid says, “these aren’t just fireflies - they’re _ dragons _. Firefly dragons.” 

“Oh wow.” Tuff breaths, “can I keep it? I’m gonna call it Sigrid the Tiny.” 

Sigrid the Tiny clambers up over Astrid’s knee, movement like a fireworm. She heads straight for Astrid’s pocket, sniffling her little snout inside to chase the pieces of yak jerky Astrid had in there as treats for Stormfly. Laughing, she moves her hand slowly to her pocket, gets nipped for her trouble, and then pulls out a piece of jerky as big as the tiny dragon. Happily, greedily it takes the whole piece, nibbling loud enough they can hear the snap of the jerky, Tuff giggling into Astrid’s neck. Sigrid the Tiny stops suddenly, and Astrid finds herself holding her breath again. Then, Sigrid starts flashing, bright green pulses of light, and maybe five or six more of the firefly dragons come scurrying out of the grass, joining in on the yak jerky 

“I’m keeping all of them.” Tuff says immediately. He coos over the closest firefly dragon, the smallest and nabs a bit of jerky for it. 

“Of course.” Astrid agrees. 

“This one is Peanut, and that’s Mr Boggle and that’s…” Tuff continues, and Astrid wishes she could she his face, to see the adoration, even though she knows it’s there, feels it in her own stomach. For a moment _ I love you _tries to blurt it’s way out her mouth, but it gets stuck and even though it’s perfect, there will be another perfect moment too. 

And tomorrow, they’ll fly back to The Edge, and present Hiccup with a brand new dragon. Tell him tall tales, and Hiccup will look at her with what he thinks is love but now Astrid knows is just _ want. _

There will be another perfect moment, and Astrid will see Tuff’s reaction, and she'll wonder why she ever thought she would settle for less than that.

  
  
  



End file.
